NEW YORK – Leticia Bravo, 39, of Newburgh, northwestern New York, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of her 7-year-old stepson Peter Cuacuas, whom she deprived of his food until his death.
Under the plea agreement, Bravo will be sentenced to 15 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision when she is sentenced June 21, according to Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler.
According to prosecutors, Bravo was a partner of Peter’s father, Arturo Cuacuas, who was the child’s primary caregiver.
Arturo Cuacuas, 54, of Newburgh, pleaded guilty Feb. 2 to felony criminally negligent homicide.
Prosecutors said the couple kept the child “secretly” inside Bravo’s Newburgh apartment as he starved.
Arturo Cuacuas did not live with Bravo during that time, but admitted that in the months before Peter’s death, he visited him once a week and noted his deteriorating condition; however, neither he nor the woman took action to help the child.
Cuacuas could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison. The plea agreement required that he cooperate and testify against Bravo.
When he pleaded guilty, Bravo admitted to knowingly underfeeding the boy and failing to provide him with the medical care he knew he needed.
She previously worked as a child care provider, authorities said.
The 5-year-old girl’s mother and her boyfriend were arrested and charged with torture and abuse against Mercedes Losoya, who died in Texas.
Bravo also admitted that he intended to cause physical injury to the child and that he recklessly created a serious risk of serious physical injury to the child, ultimately resulting in his death.
Shortly after 8 a.m. on February 10, 2021, Bravo brought Peter’s lifeless body to St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
An investigation by the City of Newburgh Police Department, with the assistance of the New York State Police and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, revealed that during the school year that began in September 2020, Bravo became Peter’s primary caretaker.
The boy would stay with her at her apartment in Newburgh every day except Saturday, when Bravo and the boy would stay at Cuacuas’s apartment.
An autopsy concluded that Peter, who weighed just 37 pounds, had died as a result of malnutrition.
Bravo kept him in a bedroom that could be locked from the outside.
The boy has never been connected to virtual education since January 2021, despite numerous conversations between Bravo and the boy’s teachers and other school representatives.
Hoovler said it may never be known why Bravo subjected an innocent child in his care to what must have been an agonizing and entirely preventable death.
“It is unthinkable that someone would accept the responsibility of being the primary caregiver for a young child and then deny them the basic necessities of life,” he said.
Hoovler said it was really disturbing how the boy was kept hidden from authorities.
“In the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic, school and social service protocols would likely have disclosed Peter’s deteriorating situation to authorities,” he said.
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